Angel's Home from the Hospital

We brought Angel home late Thursday afternoon. She had a quiet night. I think she felt pretty rotten and she was still trying to shake off all the medication and sedation she'd been under.

She has a huge and scary looking incision on her neck. It's gotta be over 6 inches long! And there's lots of swelling and bruising so it looks wicked painful. Here's her picture. Poor little thing!

I used a vacation day to stay home with her on Friday. I have to feed her small gobs of canned food by hand every hour or so for the first few days to be sure she keeps the food down. She definitely has an appetite so that's a very good sign.

From here on I need to work her up to three cans of food a day and keep an eye out for things like lethargy, coughing, loss of appetite, which could be signs of the biggest risk from here on: pneumonia. You gotta know that ever time she clears her throat I'm freaking out!!

Sunday update...

She seems to be feeling better, but she's doing a little coughing and trying to clear her throat. It's hard to imagine having half your larynx permanently open.

She's eating well and she's had some water, but not much. I'm still freaking out every time she coughs or hacks.

Quatro! Quince! Si!!

I’m on the Austin Marathon Pace Team again this year. I’m pacing 4:15 with the Dan-O. Last year, and the year before, the Dan-O and I placed second in the pacer competition for pace accuracy. I’m thinking this has gotta be our year to place first.

On Saturday’s run, the Dan-O decided we needed to have a theme for our pace. He suggested a “put the hammer down” theme. We’d carry hammers – toy hammers, I begged – and pretend to dramatically throw them down at significant places along the course. We just need to turn a fuel belt into a tool belt and we have our theme for ‘09!

In our first year our theme came to us in the last half mile. As we came around the Capitol, Dan was hollering at anybody and everybody around us. “Come on, RUN!” “We’re almost there!” “Don’t let us catch you!” A Spanish-speaking runner started running along with us hollering “Quatro… Quince…SI!” (four fifteen, yes!) with great feeling, over and over until we figured out what he was saying. So the three of us ran along together hollering “Quatro…Quince…SI!” all the way down Congress Ave. to the finish line.

We acquired a theme last year, too. Some spectators react when a pace group comes by. Usually they’ll cheer extra loud. And spectators often move around the course from place to place. Last year there was a guy who cheered us at three different places along the course by hollering “Four fifteen! I like my sausage lean!” It wasn’t until we were recounting the whole race ordeal that Dan and I each remembered hearing it several times. Since then I’ve wondered if he made up little rhymes for other pace groups. “Three thirty! Your socks are dirty!”, “Three forty! Lordy, Lordy!” “Four hour! Light the Tower!” Whatever.

But before the marathon, I gotta get some miles in. We have the RunTex 20-Miler on Sunday and, having been such a slacker since December 7, I have a feeling it’s going to hurt.

No Team Rogue for a While

Team Rogue has started without me. It’s okay. I’m just plain burnt. I’m not going to improve as a runner unless I commit to doing some real core strengthening and overall flexibility work. So, that’s the plan. As soon as Angel is recovered I’ll focus on core work and yoga and stay engaged with Rogue by going to the Monday night classes. I have a nice setup at work that allows me to do a little bit of stretching during the day, and I’ll take advantage of it.

Ken is planning to run Boston. I’m not. I had promised the Dan-O that if he qualified I’d run with him. But I’m backing out and I feel pretty rotten about it. He’s being a good sport about it and it feels like a huge weight lifted off me to know that, after Austin, I’m off the hook for a while. I’ll feel completely off the hook if Adam qualifies at Austin. That way the Dan-O will have a runnin’ buddy for sure, although the Dan-O is never at a loss for runnin’ buddies so I don’t know why I’d be so concerned!

A Momma's Girl Dog

My sweetie-girl, my 12-year-old yellow Labrador, is going in for surgery tomorrow. She has laryngeal paralysis. It’s a condition not uncommon to older Labradors, although I don’t know anyone whose Labrador has had it. They’re not sure what causes it and the only way to reverse it is through laryngeal tieback surgery, in which one side of her larynx is sutured permanently open.

It’s difficult surgery. As in any surgery, there is risk of complication. Among all of the risks, the worst is that the patient could develop aspiration pneumonia. She’ll have to learn to eat slowly, even if I have to hand feed her, to avoid inhaling food down her windpipe. She’ll be in the hospital for three nights to make sure she’s stable.

In Angel’s case, her condition came on gradually over the last two years and lately it has been very noticeable. She has trouble catching her breath on our walks and really gasps when she gets excited or anxious about something. Without the surgery she would eventually suffocate because her larynx could fail to properly open and close to allow her to breathe.

I’ve put it off for months, but it’s time. It was a very difficult decision. I hate to subject her to surgery. But except for this condition she’s otherwise healthy. What’s a momma to do?

Happy New Year

Ah. It’s January 5 and I’ve survived another holiday season. It’s always a relief to survive the holidays.

I’m a little disappointed with myself that I didn’t get my Christmas lights up this year. I like to think of myself as my street’s version of Clark Griswold, but not this year. Bad planning I guess!

Now it’s back to work in earnest.

I have a very nice job. It’s nothing glamorous, and really quite boring most of the time. But it’s somewhat fulfilling in that it’s a little teeny tiny cog in the inner workings of the interactions of the workforce and education systems. I like to think that what I do helps people be good at their jobs, and helps Texas industry be competitive because there are well trained workers coming out of the community college system.